Integrated pay per click and pay per call listings

• US 8,239,273 B1
• Filed: 07/13/2005
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: Supermedia LLC (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Inventors: Chandler, Eric D., Chu, Lester K., Harada, Edwin Y., Heatherly, Douglas G., Mahoney, Timothy, Messina, James, Palma, James, Marshall, Albert P., Rose, Robyn J., Gregory, Kristina E., Barron, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Misiaszek, Michael
• Application Number:
  US11/180,123
• Time in Patent Office: 2,582 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/26, 705 261- 272
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A response subsystem includes a plurality of listings, with at least one listing associated with a first type of per-hit fee and at least one second listing associated with a second type of per-hit fee. A translation subsystem is configured to translate between the first type of per-hit fee and the second type of per-hit fee.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying, by a server, in response to a search request, a plurality of listings, each of the listings being associated with a product or service and with a per-hit fee that is one of a first type of per-hit fee and a second type of per-hit fee, at least one of the listings being associated with the first type of per-hit fee and at least one a different one of the listings being associated with the second type of per-hit fee; and

storing a translation factor that is determined at least in part according to at least one of;

a category attribute, a geography attribute, and an advertiser associated with one of the listings;

for each of the listings associated with the second type of per-hit fee, retrieving the translation factor and applying a translation factor to the per-hit fee associated with the listing to the first type of per-hit fee to produce a translated per-hit fee;

generating an adjusted budget amount for at least some of the listings, and for storing the adjusted budget amount in a database; and

displaying the listings according to an order determined at least in part by the per-hit fees that are the first type of per-hit fee and the translated per-hit fees.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one listing associated with the second type of per-hit fee does not include a hyperlink to information relating to an advertiser associated with the listing.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising charging a fee according to the greater of a bid amount and an amount of an adjusted successful bid.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of per-hit fee is a pay-per-click fee and the second type of per-hit fee is a pay-per-call fee.

4. A method comprising:

receiving a bid for a pay-per-call listing;

receiving a call to a first telephone number included in the pay-per-call listing and forwarding the call to a second number that is associated with the pay-per-call listing;

determining by a server that the first telephone number included in the listing has been called; and

storing an adjusted budget remainder based on the bid.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

translating the bid according to a translation factor;

displaying the pay-per-call listing; and

reverse translating the bid before adjusting the budget remainder.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising automatically adjusting said translation factor according to at least one of:

a category attribute, a geography attribute, an advertiser associated with one of the listings, and an amount of revenue received from a type of per-hit fee.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising further adjusting the budget remainder if the bid is less than a lowest pay-per-call bid amount associated with a set of listings.

9. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions tangibly embodied thereon, the instructions comprising instructions for:

identifying, in response to a search request, a plurality of listings, each of the listings being associated with a product or service and with a per-hit fee that is one of a first type of per-hit fee and a second type of per-hit fee, at least one of the listings being associated with the first type of per-hit fee and at least one of a different one the listings being associated with the second type of per-hit fee;

storing a translation factor that is determined at least in part according to at least one of;

a category attribute, a geography attribute, and an advertiser associated with one of the listings;

for each of the listings associated with the second type of per-hit fee, retrieving the translation factor and applying a translation factor to the per-hit fee associated with the listing to the first type of per-hit fee to produce a translated per-hit fee;

generating an adjusted budget amount for at least some of the listings, and for storing the adjusted budget amount in a database; and

displaying the listings according to an order determined at least in part by the per-hit fees that are the first type of per-hit fee and the translated per-hit fees.

10. The medium of claim 9, wherein the first type of per-hit fee is a pay-per-click fee and the second type of per-hit fee is a pay-per-call fee.

11. The medium of claim 9, wherein at least one listing associated with the second type of per-hit fee does not include a hyperlink to information relating to an advertiser associated with the listing.

12. The medium of claim 9, the instructions further including instructions for charging a fee according to the greater of a bid amount and an amount of an adjusted successful bid.